I got my first non-tent camping unit in 1994 – a used slide-in truck camper – and have had seven more RVs of various kinds since then, so I’ve been at this for a while. Over the years I’ve learned a thing or three about RVing, often the hard way. In the hope of keeping you from making the same mistakes, I’m periodically writing about some of my experiences.
Many towable-trailer manufacturers build units with two doors. Usually, one is near the living area and the another off a bedroom. My first brand new unit – a Rockwood – had two doors and that was quite a novelty to me.
But we nearly always used the aft door from the living area whenever we accessed the trailer because that was where we spent most of our time when on the road. However,...

Many of you have probably sat through a time-share presentation. Some of you may have bought a time-share. I imagine a lot of you who bought one are perfectly happy with it. But I’ve mostly heard about those of you who aren’t happy. And who want to get out of their time-share, but can’t. There are even time-share resale brokers out there.
So, we weren’t in the market for a time-share, but we agreed to listen to the pitch in exchange for a three-night stay at a two-bedroom condo in Williamsburg, Virginia, for $189 plus tax. A nice deal for roomy comfortable accommodations in that historic area.
We had seen this ‘vacation’ offer at a home show in Raleigh. Of course, the pitch at the home show and the reality we found at the actual...

As always, if there’s an RV show reasonably close, I’ll hit it. And no exception was the semiannual North Carolina RV Dealers’ Association event at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.
This year, it’s on the same weekend as the Home and Hot Tub event downtown. So, Friday for RVs, and Saturday for Homes and Hot Tubs. Excitement! Go camels! (You have to be of a certain age – and a Smothers Brothers fan – to get that reference.)
There were a few notable and different things to see. One was a two-story trailer – well, more like a story and-a-half. The aft end is tall like a toy hauler, but inside are a few steps down to a bunk and squatty sitting area, and a few steps up above is a sleeping loft for Mom and Dad. Like I said –...

If you’ve ever watched the auto auctions on Discovery Channel, this was just like that. Except without the TV cameras. It’s loud and it smells faintly of car exhaust. Because I didn’t have a bidder’s badge, and I wasn’t sitting in the reserved bidder section, I didn’t have to worry about any stray gestures or twitches or nose scratches on my part resulting in the purchase of a classic car I couldn’t afford.
I spent a couple of hours wandering through the two large buildings at the Fairgrounds in Raleigh, and here are fourteen cars, out of the dozens and dozens on display, that interested me for various reasons, and brief descriptions.
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I got my first non-tent camping unit in 1994 – a used slide-in truck camper – and have had seven more RVs of various kinds since then, so I’ve been at this for a while. Over the years I’ve learned a thing or three about RVing, often the hard way. In the hope of keeping you from making the same mistakes, I’m periodically writing about some of my experiences.
My first (and only) motorhome was eighteen years old in 1997 when I acquired it for five-thousand dollars cash. I’d actually been in it before when a friend borrowed it for several of us boys to go to central Florida for an aviation event. It got us there and back so I felt pretty confident buying it a couple of years later. Besides, it belonged to a good friend’s sister-in-law...

Recently, it was my turn to cook dinner. I don’t mind, and – truth be told – I enjoy it. It’s creative and you can nearly always eat the results.
Whenever Harris-Teeter puts their frozen shrimp on sale, we load up. Since their deal is usually ‘buy two two-pound bags and get three free’ – we end up with a buttload of shrimp. So, I’m always on the lookout for shrimp recipes. You can’t just boil ’em every time.
So it was that I ran across a Food Network recipe called Cajun Shrimp and Rice. Checking over the ingredient list, of which there are just ten, I decided it was doable. And that I wouldn’t have to pick up a bunch of obscure ingredients at the store which always end up going bad in the refrigerator...

I got my first non-tent camping unit in 1994 – a used slide-in truck camper – and have had seven more RVs of various kinds since then, so I’ve been at this for a while. Over the years I’ve learned a thing or three about RVing, often the hard way. In the hope of keeping you from making the same mistakes, I’m periodically writing about some of my experiences.
When I bought my first brand new travel trailer in 2002, I was excited to take it on the road so we decided to head south to St. Augustine for Thanksgiving. Not quite realizing how long a drive that would be, we didn’t arrive until after dark. Let me just say – setting up after dark sucks.
The back-in spot we were assigned had a slope to the rear with the edge of a...